John lotjdon and hans iversen



N PETERS. FHOTU-UTHUGRAPHER WASH NGTON n C UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN LOUDON AND HANS IVERSEN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

STIRRUP.

Specicatiouof Letters Patent No. 21,764, dated October 12, 1858.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN LoUDoN and HANS IvERsEN, of the city and State of New York, have invented, made, and applied to use a certain new and useful Improvement in Stirrups for Saddles; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the nature and operation of our said invention, reference being had to the annexed drawing, making part of this specification, wherein- Figure 1, is a front view of our improved stirrup and Fig. 2, is an end view of the same.

Similar marks of reference denote the same parts.

Equestrians under various circumstances are liable to be thrown from the saddle, and this is particularly the case with cavalry while in service as from a sudden stopping of the horse, a blow or other cause the rider is often dismounted. In all cases a great liability exists for the feet or foot of the horseman to become caught in the stirrup, and he be dragged by the animal until killed when otherwise only a slight injury would ensue from the fall itself. To obviate this dificulty several safety stirrups have been devised, some being so made that the side opens, or that the stirrup separates in the middle and drops away from the strap, and in other cases a pin is withdrawn from the cross piece that holds the strap. All of these devices are complicated and costly and are not always efficient, beside this the stirrup in being disconnected is sometimes lost.

The entangling of the foot in the stirrup is caused by the bottom part or tread of the stirrup catching in the sole of the shoe or other part of the foot while the upper and inner portion of the stirrup binds onto the foot and the strap passing off at an angle to these, tends to bind the parts harder the more strain is applied.

The nat-ure of our said invention consists in the application of a joint a, a, in each of the sides (b, 5,) of the stirrup, about midway between the bottom or tread c, and the eye d, receiving the strap e, whereby the bottom c, cannot become impinged onto the sole of the shoe, because in cases where a person is thrown from a horse the foot turns the lower part (c) into a position similar to that shown in Fig. 2, by dotted lines, when the bottom (c) approaches toward a paral lel line with the pull of the strap e, andthe stirrup will slide ofi", and in fact practice shows itI to be impossible to cause this stirrup to clamp onto or retain the foot of the rider when dismounted.

Besides the great safety thus obtained, our stirrup is easier in use than the ordinary character, because a wide tread can be used with safety and the joint a, always allows the said tread to take an even bearing on the footunder any varying angle of the sole of the shoe with the direction of the strap e.

It will be apparent that thev joint a., must be about the middle, between the tread c and eye CZ, or if otherwise the upper part would bind onto the foot in changing the angle between the sides b and tread c, or if the joint ai, were nearer the eye d, the edge of the tread c, would bind into and hold on the sole of the shoe.

That we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- Constructing a stirrup with a joint at or near the center of the sides b, substantially as and for the purposes specified. p

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our signatures this thirty first day of July, 1858.

JOHN LOUDON. HANS IVERSEN.

Vitnesses:

LEMUEL W. SERRELL, JAMES S. DIACK. 

